Chaoui people

The Chaoui people or Shawyia (Arabic: الشاوية, Tachawit: Išawiyen) are a Berber ethnic group native to the Aurès region in northeastern Algeria.

Modern historians rank this Berber region within the group of Numidians and Gaetuli or the much more ancient Meshwesh, Maesulians and Mazaxes, from whom the Zenata formed, the main inhabitants of the Aurès in the Middle Ages.

Shawiya is a closely related cluster of dialects spoken in the Aurès region (Berber: Awras) of eastern Algeria and surrounding areas including Batna, Khenchela, south Sétif, Oum El Bouaghi, Souk Ahras, Tébessa, and the north part of Biskra.

There are many 20th century singers, such as Aïssa Djermouni, Ali Khencheli, Massinissa, Ishem Boumaraf, Djamel Sabri, Groupe Iwal, Houria Aïchi, etc.

[citation needed] Chaoui painters and sculptors (of whom there are many) include Cherif Merzouki, Abdelkhader Houamel, Hassane Amraoui, Adel Abdessemed, and Mohamed Demagh.